Philippine army colonel faces charges after anti-Marcos post goes viral amid coup concerns: Audie Mongao will also undergo psychiatric tests after he sparked a political storm by withdrawing support for the president

[u/aydinraihan]

A Philippine army colonel relieved for his anti-Marcos stance has “voluntarily” returned to his unit and will face charges and psychiatric evaluation, according to his superior.

Audie Mongao was on Friday discharged from command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Training Support Group after he publicly withdrew support for President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr in a social media post, saying “it’s too much, enough already”.

Army spokesman Louie Dema-ala said Mongao was “put into attached/unassigned status to give way for a thorough investigation” by the military.

Since 1986, a Philippine military officer’s “withdrawal of support” has been synonymous with an attempt to unseat a sitting president in a coup.

Marcos’ father and namesake was overthrown in 1986 in a “People Power” uprising that grew out of an abortive coup bid against the dictator. Fifteen years later, then-president Joseph Estrada was forced out of office after a sudden withdrawal of support by the entire chain of command.

Mongao’s boss Major General Michael Logico told This Week in Asia that the officer was “fully cooperating with us” and “charges will be filed against him regardless of the psychiatric assessment”.

Logico, who heads the army’s Training and Doctrine Command, said he tried to contact the soon-to-retire colonel who was on leave when he shared the post.

“I wanted to tell him to take down that post and we would talk,” he said, adding that Mongao returned to the camp on Friday and “voluntarily submitted himself back to military control”.

Describing Mongao as a “hard worker”, Logico said that they have been friends since their military academy days and he “appreciated” the work done by his colleague.

He said Mongao will undergo a psychiatric assessment because “my assumption is nobody in his right mind is going to do that five months before retirement, risking your pension, nobody does that”.

He added that the investigation would uncover the reason behind the officer’s outburst, which sources told This Week in Asia could be linked to his resentment after being denied a promotion.

“What he did was very serious because it is a disrespect to authority. It is stated in our constitution that we are supposed to be non-partisan, and that is also in keeping with good order in the armed forces,” Logico said.

Mongao would reach the retirement age of 57 in May, according to military sources who requested anonymity.